This disclosure relates to methods and systems that capture images of property damage, process those images, and use the information gathered from the processed image for actions such as automated property damage claim verification.
Today, when an owner of a building or other structure experiences property damage resulting from an incident such as hail, wind, lightning, vandalism, or other activity, several steps must occur to remediate the damage. In some situations, the property owner may need to ask a construction contractor to prepare a detailed description and assessment of the damage in order for the contractor to determine what is needed to fix the property. In other situations, the property owner may first need to submit a claim to its property insurer.
Currently, to submit a property damage claim, the property owner first calls the insurance company. Then the insurance company dispatches a claim adjuster to the property. The adjuster manually surveys the property and the damage to it, takes pictures of the damaged area(s), measures the damaged area(s), and takes notes (usually by hand on paper or mobile device) describing the type and extent of the damage. When the damage to the property is on the roof, the adjuster is usually required to climb a ladder and get on or near the roof in order to be able to perform these tasks. The adjuster commonly is carrying a camera, chalk, tape measure and note pad or electronic device for capturing notes. A similar process can apply when a contractor is assessing property damage to determine what is needed to remediate the damage
In the case of insurance, the adjuster may enter the pictures, measurements, and notes that he or she captured into a claims processing system. The adjuster makes a determination as to whether the damage was due to a cause covered by the insurance contract, and he or she determines (or passes on the appropriate info to the system to determine) the amount that the insurer will pay on the claim. In computing the payment amount, the system may take into consideration the cost of material, labor and factors unique to the property owner's policy (e.g., deductible, depreciation, policy limits, etc.).
This process has several problems. For example, it is manually time-consuming for the adjuster to perform on-site at the property. Following catastrophic weather events, as the claims volume greatly exceeds the standard adjusting capacity of the typical insurer, there could be delays in inspection, payment and the timely booking of a repair contractor. It is also potentially dangerous to have the adjuster inspect the property, especially if the inspection requires getting on a ladder and/or the roof (and note that this requires that the adjuster be insured to a higher level coverage, which is another cost in the process). Further, in the current property damage claim system, assessment results are not consistent from adjuster to adjuster. Most of the above drawbacks may contribute to lower customer (i.e., policyholder) satisfaction than likely would be the case if the process was more consistent and efficient. Therefore, the current process for processing a property damage insurance claim can be labor-intensive, costly, slow, and unsafe.
This document describes devices and methods that are intended to address issues discussed above and/or other issues.